Meeting with former KGB handler Victor Cherkashin discussed recruitment of US spies

CHAPTER 25 Through the Looking Glass There’s definitely a deep state. Trust me, I’ve been there. —EDWARD SNOWDEN, Moscow, 2014 Wa WAITING to hear back from Kucherena’s office, I arranged to meet with Victor Cherkashin, who had been one of the most successful KGB spy handlers in the Cold War. Cher- kashin, born in 1932, had served in the KGB’s espionage branch from 1952 until 1991 and now operated a private security firm in Moscow. I was particularly interested in his recruitment of three top American intelligence officers: Aldrich Ames of the CIA, Robert Hanssen of the FBI, and Ronald Pelton of the NSA. I hoped that see- ing these intelligence coups through the eyes, and mind-set, of their KGB handler might provide some historical context for the Snowden defection. So I invited Cherkashin to lunch at Gusto, a quiet Italian restaurant, located near the Chekhov Theater in Moscow. Cherkashin, a tall thin man with silver hair, showed up promptly at 1:00 p.m., wearing an elegant gray suit and dark tie. He walked with a spry step. Because he had served in counterintelligence in the Soviet embassy in Washington, D.C., for nearly a decade, he spoke flawless English. | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.indd 258 ® 9/30/16 8:13AM | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019746